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Put pressure on Walmart / Asda

April 2012
ASDA!
Asda / Walmart store in UK. Photo by joshuawillis on Flickr
Americans are about to be fed a hush-hush GM sweet corn. It will be sold to them fresh, frozen or canned, but otherwise it will be unprocessed and indistinguishable from any other sweet corn.

Monsanto's incentives to farmers to grow its new GM sweet corn seed are the stacked genes put in to combat insect pests plus a gene put in for herbicide-resistance. After that, the product's GM nature will vanish from view and the Company will be relying on supermarkets to sell the GM vegetable to consumers. (See below)

But, what if the supermarkets refuse to stock it?




GM sweet corn to be eaten fresh

“Monsanto's latest creation is sweet corn stacked with two Bt-insecticidal genes plus a glyphosate tolerance gene, and is its first venture into consumer-oriented vegetables. Monsanto is aiming to grow its GM sweet corn on 250,000 acres in 2012, which is roughly 40% of the (US) sweet corn market ...

... the public launch of the new GM sweet corn will be “very, very small” and will of course, not carry the 'Monsanto' brand because “given how sweet-corn is normally sold - by the ear in larger bins in produce sections of the market - it's not really something that can easily be branded” (Monsanto Vice President).”

The US Food and Drug Administration's “position on labelling of genetically modified foods is rooted in the premise that there is no “material difference” in foods containing ingredients from genetically modified crops and foods made from conventional crops.”
(Carey Gillam, Reuters 3.27.12)

COMMENT It must have taken some very careful persuasion by the biotech industry to have food with two inbuilt novel insecticidal proteins plus the accumulated glyphosate from spraying with herbicide dismissed as 'immaterial'.




WalMart is the world's largest corporation by revenue. It aims, also, to be the world's largest supermarket chain with 8,500 stores in 15 countries, trading under 55 different names, including 'Asda' in the UK.

This means that consumers around the globe can send a strong message to WalMart that selling GM sweet corn containing three artificial toxins anywhere will give the supermarket a toxic brand.

Now is the time to act because a WalMart spokesperson has told the press (under pressure) that “the decision has not been made”.

Send a clear signal to Monsanto that consumers everywhere are supporting the American public's right to know what's in their food. Here's an easy way to do it: sign the petition organised by Food and Water Watch and SumOfUs at sumofus.org/campaigns/monsanto-walmart which says:

WalMart: Don't stock Monsanto's GMO corn

For more information about the GM sweet corn, check out the Institute of Science in Society Report at
http://i-sis.org.uk/Tell_WalMart_to_Reject_Monsantos_GMO_Corn.php.
In particular, follow the links to other articles on harmful side-effects of Bt toxins.

1 comment:

  1. A lot of food that we eat today contains genetically modified ingredients and usually without our knowledge. I would like to share a documentary "Bad Seed - The Truth About Our Food", documentary examines the issue of genetic engineering of food from the real-world perspectives of leading scientists, farmers, food safety advocates and the victims of genetically engineered products. It exposes a heinous scheme by large corporations with long criminal histories to gain control over the world's food supply by infecting food crops with patented DNA.

    To watch documentary visit- http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/6501/

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